Five Solutions to Workplace Mistakes

Have you heard of Parkinson’s law? It is the idea that “work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion”. Meaning sometimes tasks can take longer than they need to, if you let them.  In one of my previous jobs, I was routinely reminded of Parkinson’s law during our weekly team meetings. It would give me a rush of hope when the manager would say, “We don’t have much to cover today, so we can likely finish early.” But inevitably I’d be left feeling like ripping my hair out as we went over the meeting time. For the longest time, I thought my hatred of meetings was unique or at least exaggerated, as compared to most people. But in speaking with colleagues, friends, and clients through the years, it would appear that I am not alone and that unproductive meetings are a shared enemy of many who work in team environments. So, why does it keep happening? Well, that brings us back to Parkinson’s wisdom about work expanding to fit the time. No one is stepping back and asking, “Is this working for us?”. Let’s look at some of the lessons from Parkinson’s law and how we can shift our thinking to increase our sense of productivity at work.

Workplace mistake #1: Deadlines without urgency

Solution: Maximize the motivation of deadlines, by having smaller goals in shorter time frames

You’ve just been given a large project at work, or a target to reach that seems unattainable, and it’s up to you to figure out how to make it happen. Or you have an idea for your business but feel lost on how to execute it. This creates a looming cloud of work without clarity or focus. By breaking down larger projects into specific tasks with short-term deadlines, individuals tend to feel more motivated and accomplished. If you’re a manager you can collaborate with your team members to determine the tasks and deadlines. If you work solo, you can ask yourself: “what’s the next step in this process?” and focus your energy on that. Use the human tendency toward being deadline-driven to your advantage.

Workplace mistake #2: Tendency toward procrastination

Solution: Determine the trade-offs

I was going to look up the research on how common procrastination is, but decided I’ll do it tomorrow. OK, bad joke. But it’s safe to say that procrastination is a common practice by many individuals across industries. The tools that have been created to make our workplaces “more efficient” are also excellent procrastination devices. How many times have you said, “I’ll get to that report after I check my email”? Our instant gratification culture contributes to procrastination, because, let’s face it, some parts of our jobs are necessary, but not so fun. It makes sense to want to delay or avoid those parts that we don’t enjoy. But, if we start thinking of how we spend our work time in terms of trade-offs, it can reduce our tendency to procrastinate. Ask yourself: By delaying this task what am I giving up later? The answer might be sleep, time with family, lunch with work colleagues. Also consider, what did I gain by procrastinating? Is it worth it? Another way to think of it is to consider that most of our activities in life are driven by wants (yes, even the activities that we don’t enjoy!) On the surface, I don’t want to do laundry, but I do want to have clean clothes. I don’t want to complete the expense report, but I do want my team to have the numbers they need to make informed budget decisions. Own your tendency to procrastinate and consider the wants and trade-offs to motivate you to just get it done!

Workplace mistake #3: Meetings that go off track

Solution: Make meetings intentional and focused

 I have a lot of feelings and opinions on this one. As someone who is driven by a desire for efficiency, appreciates solo reflection time, and likes to take action once a decision is made, most workplace meetings are a unique kind of torture for me. Many workplaces have regular/set meetings. Depending on the workplace and the amount of collaborative work that is done on projects the amount of time in meetings can vary. Regardless of the workplace culture, many organizations can fall into the trap of having meetings for the sake of meetings, without taking into consideration the purpose of the meeting and who truly needs to be there. Often meetings have a long list of old business, new business, updates, and other agenda items that need to be worked through in a set period of time. As a result, it can become a bit of a “Groundhog Day” phenomenon—you end up having the same meeting over and over with few productive results. Before I left my former job, I found a notebook that I had from my first week of work, over seven years earlier. I had been the note-taker at one of my first staff meetings. Because I was new, I took very thorough notes. As I reviewed the notes, it occurred to me that most of the items that we discussed at that meeting were still unresolved action items – seven years later! No wonder I was feeling unproductive! If you are a manager, this is your call to action. Here are a few simple ways you can keep your meetings on track:

• Look at the meetings that are scheduled. What’s actually necessary? How long do the meetings need to be? Consider if it is better to have a singular focus to the meeting and have only the essential team members present for it.
• Identify what the purpose of the meeting is and if something comes up that doesn’t fall under that category, re-direct back to the purpose.
• If you have a regularly scheduled meeting and there is nothing important to discuss, or it is all items that can be summed up in an email, cancel it.

End the meeting with action items, and reflect on if the purpose of the meeting has been achieved